Lakers 0-2 to start season

The Lakers first win of the season will have to wait as they fall to the Kings in Sacramento now having lost two straight to start the 2011-12 NBA season. For the Lakers the upside to all of this is that the possibility of winning 64 games is still up for grabs.

I don't get it, the Lakers were competitive against the well premised Chicago Bulls but have difficulty against the scrappy Sacramento Kings. Stu Lantz said it best, its all about basic fundamentals and its clear L.A. lacks the basics right now. Where are the pick and rolls? How about dribble penetration for the open kick out at the wing? It seems that L.A. is playing to find the slasher for the bail out two rather than using the playbook. These fourth quarter comebacks have come back to bite the Lakers in the ass as they just cannot find a groove to play effectively in the first three quarters to enter the last 12 minutes with an assured lead.

Perimeter defense will always be an issue for the purple and gold. This bad habit of leaving their man open behind the arc is going to continue to haunt the team until they learn to fix this major blooper. Sacramento shot .500 (9-18) from long distance while L.A. shot .062 (1-16).

Blake's shot looked flat, one of Luke's shots was attempted from the palm of his hand and Fisher went fishing only catching 3 fish in 10 different lakes (horrible analogy but you catch my drift).

Lakers need balance with their shot attempts. Kobe shot the rock 24 times with Metta coming in a distant second place off the bench with 14 shot attempts and Gasol, 12.

Yes Kobe Bryant is giving fantasy basketball owners enough to be
happy about averaging 28.5pts entering the third game of the
season but this doesn't help the team when he's only 1 of 2 starters
putting up notable numbers. Kobe's 29 points tonight matched the
entire total points scored by the other 4 Lakers starters. Meanwhile
Sacramento had 4 starters scoring in double digits.

Lakers weakest link continues to be at the 1. Fisher/Blake had a total of 6 points (Blake 0-4) vs. the Kings PG's Tyreke Evans/(R) Jimmer Fredette at 26 points.

Spark off the bench

Metta World Peace was just 2 shy from mirroring the King's entire second unit point contribution of 21 points. He had 19 going 8-14 in FG. He played 29 minutes coming off the bench. His latest performance might make coach Brown reconsider starting Ebanks who only scored 6pts. in just 18 minutes tonight.